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Grade Report v Warringah

Another opportunity gone begging! That was the feeling after leading Warringah 27-10 with fifteen minutes to go in the match, only to be staring down defeat within 2 minutes of fulltime.

The Rats began well as they have in most matches this season and having posted an early penalty goal, they then went through our right edge defense after two missed tackles to score under the posts and get out to an early 10 point lead. From there we settled into our work somewhat, although it was difficult to get any real momentum without either the referee blowing a penalty or the ball being spilt. Indeed, our first try came off the back of a loose pass from Warringah with Mack Mason quick to pounce and score under the sticks. An earlier penalty to Tom Pincus saw the scores locked at 10-10 just before half time. With the Beasties applying pressure in the dying stages of the half, Pincus knocked over another penalty to take us to the sheds leading 13-10.

It was certainly game on in the opening moments of the second half and when we did get some decent front foot ball, Joe Pincus found his way through a hole on the back of a lovely ball from Archie King to take it to 27-10. With all the momentum, Archie King then crashed over close to the line and with Pincus on song, we lead 27-10. Whilst momentum was still with us, we were unable to convert some other promising moments and instead, a dropped ball against the run of play saw Warringah capitalize and score adjacent to the posts to bring the score to 27-17.

A turning point indeed and the remaining ten minutes saw Warringah throwing the ball around and the Easts defense doing its best to hold them out. Something had to give and it did with Warringah getting two quick penalties to bring them well into Easts territory and the weight of possession finally proved too much and with five minutes remaining we were hanging onto a 27-22 lead. Once again, Warringah threw the ball around and managed to find the try line one ore time but with the conversion hitting the upright, we were still alive at 27-27.

We managed to get the ball back with under a minute to go but a misfired drop goal attempt from over thirty meters saw the ball go dead and the referee blow full time.

Not good enough. We need to be stronger in these critical moments in matches and tough it out. There is no secret ingredient here, just dogged determination and belief.

2nd Grade

The beast second grade faced the table topping Rats who hadn't been beaten since round 1. We knew this game was going to give us a good indication of where we were at as a team. With new combinations playing for the first time together along with Will Patterson deputising at 10 for the first time since his school days, we knew it was going to be a tough night.

We started brightly but struggled for early possession of the ball which became the theme for the night. Early on we conceded far too many penalties at the breakdown which contributed to us being 3-0 down going into the later stages of the half. With one man in the bin Beasts chanced their arm a little bit and finally got a good portion of possession in the Rats half. Our first bit off sustained pressure lead to a try from James King followed by a conversion and penalty just before half time.

The 2nd half was much like the first in terms of possession. Fortunately for us our defence was outstanding and patient all night. Rats only try came from an error in our own 22, but as is fashion with our 2nd Grade side at the moment our character shone through immediately. We found ourselves almost immediately in Rat territory after the restart where we again left with points through a try to Liam Berry. Not long later we managed to put the game to bed with a penalty to Maddocks which took away the bonus point from Warringah.

It was an effort that was truely built on trust and character, two things that can't be coached.

Final score 18-8 to the Beasts.

3rd Grade

Easts thirds travelled to warringah last saturday to face the competition leaders.

Having to play on the back field at late notice,made it even harder.

The game started poorly for us as we dropped the kickoff, dropped the first pass in the centres and then missed a simple one on one tackle to be down 7-0 after 90 seconds.

It looked like being a long day.

However, what followed was a very high calibre game that was also very intense and skilfull.

We kicked off and Warringah had the ball for four or five phases, kicked to Rhys Corbishly at fullback and eleven phases later , down the other end of the field, his brother liam scored after a nice display of footwork and it was 7 all.

The rest of the half was physical and committed from both sides and we went to half time with a belief that we could achieve an upset.

Warringah kicked a penalty in the third minute of the second half and we replied a few minutes later and it was 10 all.

We applied good presure for the next 5 to 10 minutes which the rats held out.

Then from a lineout near their own 22 , Warringah sliced through and swung the ball wide to score in the left hand corner and convert to lead 17 -10 and then they in creased the lead in the 60Th minute when a nice set piece move saw them take the score to 24-10.

All was not lost as with 5 minutes to go , Rhys Corbishly put Scott Ferris over and it was 24-17.

We kept coming at Warringah, but they held on and the score fished 24-17 to them.

A good game of football and if we played with that committment every week , we would be much higher in the ladder.

So we go to Concord on saturday, but with 10 changes this week , it is another day.

4th Grade

Unfortunately 4th Grade fell back into their old habits against Warringah

Constant errors at the breakdown & simple one-on-one missed tackles cost us the game

We did show some glimpses of brilliance, especially in our broken field running – one of which resulted in a great try to George Mallatt

But overall it was a very disappointing performance

Hopefully the boys can lift for this weeks game against West Harbour, and begin some sort of winning streak that we will certainly need to make this years finals